No. 1: It’s Jake Long

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Well, we should all get at least one direct hit in our upcoming mock drafts. The Miami Dolphins have signed Michigan tackle Jake Long and will make him the first pick overall in the NFL draft on Saturday.

Now, I guess the St. Louis Rams are “on the clock.”

Here’s the story on Long:

The Miami Dolphins have signed Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long to a multiyear contract and will select him with the No. 1 overall pick in Saturday’s draft.

The contract is for five years and $57.75 million, with $30 million guaranteed.

The Dolphins were interested in trading the top pick, but no suitors surfaced — so they decided to sign Long and avoid a possible holdout. Last year’s top pick, JaMarcus Russell, missed all of training camp before signing a $61 million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

Despite speculation that Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells really had planned to select Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston or Virginia defensive end Chris Long, sources told ESPN’s Michael Smith that since the Dolphins opened negotiations with Jake Long they were talking to him exclusively.

Long, a 6-foot-7, 313-pound senior who moved to left tackle in 2006 and started his final 26 games, was an All-America selection and Big Ten lineman of the year in each of his past two seasons.

The new Miami regime led by Parcells began negotiations last week with Long’s agent, Tom Condon. Offensive line is considered the biggest need for the Dolphins, who went 1-15 last year, and new Miami coach Tony Sparano coached the offensive line with the Dallas Cowboys.

Miami made Long the first offensive lineman taken No. 1 in more than a decade and the fifth in league history. The St. Louis Rams took Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace first overall in 1997.

“We had him at the top of our board for a long time,” Miami general manager Jeff Ireland said at a news conference in Davie, Fla.